Each of the firms will be able to open up four dispensaries. Three of them -- Bloomfield, Etain and PharmaCann -- will open dispensaries in Onondaga County.

Forty-three businesses applied for licenses.

"The five organizations selected for registration today showed, through a rigorous and comprehensive evaluation process, they are best suited to produce and provide quality medical marijuana to eligible New Yorkers in need, and to comply with New York's strict program requirements," said Dr. Howard Zucker, the state's health commissioner.

The 43 businesses submitted their applications containing tens of thousands of pages of information to the state June 5. The applications were evaluated by a team of state government professionals with backgrounds in medicine, quality assurance, analytical and medicinal chemistry, regulatory compliance and other fields.

The health department said each applicant was evaluated on its ability to manufacture approved medical marijuana products, each with a consistent cannabinoid profile and each able to pass the required quality control testing.

Applicants were also evaluated based on the proposed locations of their dispensaries, their financial standing, "moral character" of top officials and stakeholders, and other factors. The evaluation team scored each proposal and picked the applicants with the highest scores, the department said.

An application submitted by Michael P. Falcone, chairman and CEO of Syracuse-based Pioneer Cos., and his wife, Nicole Ruvo Falcone, did not make the cut.

The health department came under criticism during the evaluation process for not disclosing any details about the applicants.

The department said all 43 applications will be made public after it redacts trade secrets, personal information and critical infrastructure information.

The department began releasing information today on all 43 applicants, including the scoring of all applications, the scoring criteria and other information.

Each applicant had to pay $10,000. Each of the winners will have to pay the state another $200,000.

Eddie Miller, CEO of eCann Inc., a company that provides marketing services and technology in the legal cannabis industry, predicted some of the applicants who were passed over will sue.

He said some applicants spent millions of dollars vying for licenses.

"The application process is extremely expensive and applicants become a little sore when they don't get them," he said.

Other states like Nevada, Illinois and Massachusetts have been sued by applicants whose bids for medical marijuana licenses were rejected.

Julie Netherland, deputy director of the Drug Policy Alliance, a marijuana advocacy group, said she's concerned there will not be enough dispensaries. There are none in the North Country.

"Given the current proposed sites, there are huge areas of the state where patients will have to travel enormous distances to get medicine," she said. "This is especially problematic given that many medical marijuana patients are sick and disabled and low income."